Extemp Topic Areas

Questions in Extemporaneous Speaking will cover events occurring within the previous 4-5 months.

ROUND 1 - U.S. politics and policy (may include foreign policy)

ROUND 2 - Foreign policy and foreign affairs

ROUND 3 - Economic, social, and cultural issues

ROUND 4 - Political cartoons

Topic areas should be interpreted broadly. All questions and cartoons were curated before Election Day.

ABOUT POLITICAL CARTOONS: The Round 4 prompts will be political/editorial cartoons rather than traditional questions. Students will blindly choose three cartoons, then select one on which to base their speech. Contestants are not being asked to analyze the cartoon or to defend or refute its message. Rather, they are to compose and answer their own Extemp question based on the cartoon (or some part thereof). The question should be one that can reasonably be answered in a 7-minute Extemp speech after 30 minutes of preparation.